Croatian entrepreneur unveils 190mph electric supercar

An electric supercar boasting 1,088 horsepower, a maximum range of 366 miles per charge and capable of blasting speeds of up to 190mph has been unveiled by a 23-year old Croatian entrepreneur.

The Rimac Automobili Concept_One has been developed over the last two years after designer Mate Rimac "blew up" the engine of the BMW E30 he was using for circuit racing. He says: "I decided to try building an EV. The goal from the beginning was to create a very powerful car. At first I started on my own. I read a lot about other people's projects who have already converted cars to EVs, and even some who are using EVs for racing. "Then I ordered parts and started to build the car. After one year or so, the car was able to drive but I was not satisfied with the result. It was heavy, not very powerful and the range was very limited. I started to collect a team of experts to develop our own components since I believed that the electric propulsion can give much more compared to what was available on the market (at least for individuals -- big companies have access to better technologies)."

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The original BMW has now gone through five stages of reinvention and, says Rimac, "got faster, lighter and more reliable each time". When he realised how little of the original car remained, he decided to build a new car from scratch.

The result is the Concept_One, which is built around four liquid cooled permanent magnet motors, a 92 kWh battery and an All Wheel Torque Vectoring System (video), delivering 3,600 Nm torque. He told the New York Times: "The front and rear systems are separate units," he said. "Each of them includes two high-speed, liquid-cooled permanent magnet electric motors, two liquid-cooled inverter units and two reduction gearboxes, integrated into one small unit."

Unveiled today at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the 1,650kg car is going to be priced "a bit below the gasoline-powered competition from Pagani, Koenigsegg and Bugatti," Rimac says, adding that he has already received orders from the Middle East.

However, this is not a mission to convert petrol heads to EVs. Rimac told Wired.co.uk: "We believe that electric motors are simply better machines compared to internal combustion engines. We are not building electric cars 'to save the planet' with low CO2 emissions -- we are aware of the fact that 10-15 cars a year (which is our annual target production) won't make any difference in terms of emissions. "Our target is to raise the bar for sports/supercars in terms of driving dynamics with our All Wheel Torque Vectoring System. I think that the people will look at electric cars from a different angle when they see our car performing."

With a total of just 88 models planned, this could be a case of catching the Concept_One while, and if, you can.